Monday, February 20, 2006

[Foreign Policy, Meta]

US Foreign Policy Week.

Paradoxically, perhaps the biggest domestic political issue is US foreign policy. Despite gross incompetence, the Republican Party is regarded by Americans as the safety party. Each election cycle, we must watch as rich, coddled white men vamp as warriors and scare unsophisticated voters with talk of the latest foreign bogeyman. (Do you recall which one Bush used in 2000? It wasn't Osama.*)

But US foreign policy, the bizarre melange of neoconservative idealism, market colonization, and strategic positioning, now puts US at far greater risk thanks to GOP mismanagement. Unfortunately, for a country weened on policies of testosterone, where even the Dems agree invasions and strategic bombings are preferable to diplomacy, there's little in the way of alternatives. US foreign policy may be summed up thus: we either get cooperation from Europe before invading and spreading the faith (Dems), or we play on anti-European sentiment, tell Europe to screw itself, and invade and spread the faith (GOP).

Yet there are other ways. I'll look into some of them, and of course, gleefully pore over the failures of neoconservatism (et. al.) in a autopsy of the Bush years. Holler if you have thoughts.

__________________*Bush, third presidential debate with Al Gore: "Saddam Hussein still is a threat in the Middle East. Our coalition against Saddam is unraveling. Sanctions are loosened. The man who may be developing weapons of mass destruction, we don't know because inspectors aren't in."